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Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Grind for August 4th, 2018FIRST SIP:“Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”

– Henry Ford

Time For A Change

The Headline

Impeachment hawk Tom Steyer will spend 110 million dollars in 2018

The Grind

Move over Koch brothers, there’s a new kid in town. Tom Steyer is a billionaire investor who in monetary terms is the closest thing the Dems have to the Koch network.

According to Politico, Steyer plans to spend at least $110 million in 2018, making him the “largest single source of campaign cash on the left and placing him on a path to create a parallel party infrastructure with polling, analytics, and staffing capabilities that stand to shape and define the issues the party runs on in November.”

The Details

Using his organizations Need to Impeach and NextGen America, Steyer is amassing a nontraditional voter base that could play a key role in upcoming elections.

He has already invested $40 million in Need to Impeach, a growing organization that calls to impeach President Trump.

“Our list is bigger than the NRA’s and we’re going to make sure that it votes that way in 2018,” says Kevin Mack, lead strategist for Need to Impeach. The group’s email list recently topped 5.5 million.

While Democratic leaders have expressed discomfort with the idea of impeachment, Steyer sees the topic as a way to galvanize voters.

Need to Impeach will continue running ads through November, with each buy estimated to cost at least $1 million. In the meantime, NextGen America will focus on getting college students and other young voters to the polls.

NextGen claims to have more than 67,000 targeted young voters in Florida’s 27th district, an area which encompasses most of Miami. Democrats are aiming to fill that seat, which is being vacated by GOP Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Whatever It Takes

The Headline

Trump considers increasing tariffs on China

The Grind

President Trump had threatened to impose a 10% import tax on $200 billion in Chinese imports. Now, he is considering increasing that figure to 25%.

The proposal is backed by Administration advisers who say the increase is necessary to make up for the recent depreciation of the Chinese yuan, which has dropped 6% against the USD since May 30th.

Trump has already imposed a 25% tariff on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods, and a similar tariff will go into effect for $16 billion Chinese goods in the coming days.

Late last month, Trump said he was “ready” to tax all $500 billion worth of Chinese imports.

The Details

The $200 billion list of goods, which includes tilapia, lighting products, and printed circuit boards, is expected to have a much bigger impact on consumers than the previous rounds of tariffs.

“Given the scope of the products covered, about half of all imports from China are facing tariffs, including consumer goods,” says Erin Ennis of the US-China Business Council. “The cost increases will be passed on to customers, so it will affect most Americans’ pocketbooks.”

The proposed increase follows a failure from Washington to make any real progress in settling the trade dispute with China and in forcing Beijing to abandon practices which facilitate the illegal transfer of intellectual property.

Along with Trump’s trade offenses comes his recent deal with the EU, in which both sides agreed to utilize the World Trade Organization when dealing with infractions like IP theft and government pressure on companies to transfer technology.

In the meantime, China is facing economic troubles that could limit its promised retaliation and convince Beijing to come to the negotiating table.

GOOD TO THE LAST DROP:Did you know… India used to be the richest country in the world until the British invasion in the early 17th Century.